One newly formed progressive super PAC is planning to cart caskets to Republican lawmakers’ districts and hold mock funerals for their constituents. Another activist is encouraging protesters to ship their own ashes — should they die without health care —to GOP lawmakers. And other progressive groups are planning graphic “die-in” protests as they work to derail GOP plans to repeal Obamacare.
What really matters of course is winning elections. Let’s reach our goal for Rob Quist in Montana. The polls are close and there’s nowhere near as much money being spent there as in GA-6.
Omnes Omnibus
Sinead, nice.
Wjs
Whoa, people. Whoa. Chris Cilliza tells me this is why people hate the Democratic Party.
Jeffro
Good article in SLATE today (stop laughing) about how protests have their use and calls help sway legislators but the effects of both wear off/can be ignored…money, especially money raised specifically against a candidate, now THAT gets their attention.
So…I’m in for a few bucks today myself. AND I might just call Ted Cruz’s office and laugh until they hang up on me, too.
Keep banging!
ET
I was reading Benen at MaddowBlog about how a few Democratic members of Congress are “adopting” neighboring districts represented by Republicans and holding town halls – mostly about healthcare – because GOP members won’t. (the mark of close minded cowards)
I think this a great idea that ought to picked up everywhere it is possible. Also think that maybe Dems looking to take on GOP members should go and participate. First, trolling GOP reps is fun. Second, bad PR for GOP reps is important. Third, people are scared and there are people in even the reddest of red districts that didn’t vote GOP and likely feel very shut out and likely don’t participate much because they are so shut out and ignored and maybe this opportunity is an opportunity to reach out and build.
Gelfling 545
There is a ” die-in” planned for Collins’ district. I’m betting he won’t understand what they’re doing.
piratedan
@Jeffro: I went ahead and suggested as much to Raul Grijalva via an e-mail that he do one in Martha McSally’s district. Since she was so gung ho on getting it passed, I’m sure she’s too worn out to discuss just what it was that she passed.
Shalimar
I would not trust a Republican congressional office with my ashes. They would probably bake them into celebration edibles.
LurkerNoLonger
@ET: Here’s a write-up of the Maloney town hall in Faso’s district. http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20170509/rep-maloney-crossing-district-line-speaks-to-hundreds-in-kingston-about-health-care-bill
Thoroughly Pizzled
@Jeffro: Slate’s gotten pretty good over the last few years. Dahlia Lithwick, Jamelle Bouie and Dear Prudence are great.
hovercraft
@Wjs:
If you gave him truth serum, he’d tell you that people hate everything about the democratic party, the best thing they can do to make themselves more popular is simply become republicans. Of course then people will hate them for not standing by their principles. Oh well ; (
Fuck Chris Cillizza.
zhena gogolia
I know people were down on Kimmel for mentioning “partisan wrangling,” but he did a good job on his follow-up, I think. He let a smarmy Republican lie for a while and then brought down the hammer on him.
hovercraft
@piratedan:
I think Ruben Gallego is doing one in her district, I think that’s what Rachel said last night.
TenguPhule
Isn’t it a bad idea to start giving the other side ideas?
This tactic rather depends on the receiver feeling shame and remorse.
Keep in mind, these are Republicans.
Caskets of dead liberals and Democrats is only going to encourage them with positive reinforcement.
The Moar You Know
I’m under no illusions that they’d do anything but flush them down the toilet, call it a “burial at sea” and laugh.
The problem with all these protest ideas is that these legislators don’t see the people affected as human. I don’t know how you fight that.
mai naem mobile
@Wjs: Chris Cillizza needs to do his best Justin Trudeau impression so that Ivanka will finally fuck him. I thought of replacing Justin Trudeau with Dolt 45 but the imageneral in my brain is just too ewwww.
hovercraft
@zhena gogolia:
Here’s the full clipJimmy Kimmel ‘Apologizes’ For Saying Children Should Have Health Care
mai naem mobile
Somebody on twitter had a mock ad for the AHCA which opened into a redone Costco casket ad. Funny and to the point.
david
‘stretched on your grave’ – Cindy Sheehan?
hovercraft
This is what new blood looks like.
Dem Sen. Responds To GOP Claim About Health Care: ‘What The F*** Is That?’
“It’s worse than things were before the Affordable Care Act,” Harris said. “So they’re engaged in all of this happy talk, that is bull—”
She caught herself, and said, “Not truth,” to laughter from the audience.
“You can say whatever you want up here,” one host said. “We say ‘bullshit.’”
“Yeah, I have all kinds of words,” Harris said.
She said Republicans “believe health care is a privilege, not a right.”
“Like this guy who, this congressman,” Harris said. “You might as well say, ‘Well, people don’t starve because they don’t have food.’ What the fuck is that?”
Villago Delenda Est
@Wjs: Chris Cillizza is in desperate need of having a 16 ton weight accidentally dropped on him.
ArchTeryx
@The Moar You Know: You fight that by voting them out of office. At all costs. Then you salt the earth behind them so that nothing grows.
In a gerrymandered district? Find someone with an “R” next to their name that isn’t a Tea Party maniac and run them against the incumbent in a primary. Stop laughing – that’s exactly what was done in Kansas’ legislative elections in 2016, and quite a few Tea Partiers got tossed out on their ear in the primary. If people can’t stomach voting for a D, they often CAN stomach voting for a more moderate “R” – one that won’t be constantly trying to destroy their healthcare and bust the budget doing it.
The DCCC should get into the ratfucking business and pimp some moderate Rs in hopelessly gerrymandered districts. Hit the maniacs right where they sit and force them to defend their own seats. Force the Kochs to go out in the open to defend the indefensible. Make them fight! THAT is how you “heighten the contradictions”.
Villago Delenda Est
@hovercraft: And GOP shills of the Village clutch their fuckin’ pearls over Harris’ use of the word “fuck”.
Marcopolo
Already had our die in last night outside of Ann Wagner’s (MO2) district office. Tonight we are holding an absentee town hall for her.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Moar You Know:
Tumbrel rides.
ArchTeryx
@Villago Delenda Est: Save those for the media talent. The politicians you can vote out (see above). The Beltway media anchors are what need the tumbrels.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
Reciprocation.
hovercraft
I’m still amazed at the level of cowardice,
Not really, but the fact that they are simply hiding, at least hold some Town halls” with a handpicked group of supporters!
TenguPhule
@ArchTeryx:
Only until a teabagger with the help of our conservative media manages to enflame those people’s bias on their personal hot button issue and gets voted in. Abortion, Guns, Kill the Darkies, Tax cuts, Fuck the Poor and hey presto, we’re back to the Congress of 2010.
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est: So Chris Christie, sixteen times?
ArchTeryx
@TenguPhule: Won’t work in every district, no, but it will work in some – maybe enough to flip the House. Take a good look at what’s coming out of the Kansas legislature these days. Hint: Brownback is vetoing virtually all of it. They haven’t broken that veto yet, but it hands them a golden issue when his seat opens up to NOT replace him with another Tea Party “R”.
Will it last forever? Maybe not. All it has to do is last until the next round of redistricting. Then you draw the lines to remove the Republican gerrymanders, and hey, presto, you get the Congress of 2008.
bemused
@Thoroughly Pizzled:
Can’t believe I forgot about Dear Prudence. I think it was a Dear Prudence letter writer who said she thought her mother-in-law was trying to kill her by poisoning her food. She got sick every time she ate mil’s meals. Her husband didn’t believe her or so he said. Prudence told her to get out of that marriage pronto.
Frankensteinbeck
@TenguPhule:
No. It relies on them feeling fear. Not the fear of a physical threat. Rather, a fear of not having control. Bullies require a sense of overwhelming power, that they cannot lose because the whole system is tilted in their favor. Town hall protests are scaring the living shit out of Republican congressmen, because facing angry disagreement from a majority of the room removes their position of strength, and they see the world only in terms of bully and bullied.
prob50
@Shalimar:
Nah, they’d probably just piss on them.
? ?? Goku ? ?
@prob50: The saddest thing? I can totally see them doing that
bemused
@hovercraft:
Good for Harris. They are truly monsters.
BruceFromOhio
@david: Oh, my. No.
Sinead O’Connor, 1990.
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck: Dropping off caskets and ashes isn’t going to inspire fear of losing control. Not from Republicans.
burnspbesq
@Villago Delenda Est:
Redd Foxx had the definitive word on that subject, back in the days when he was the best standup comic no white people knew anything about.
? ?? Goku ? ?
Attention BJers: Any trolls give you a hard time about voter suppression last year, show them this: https://www.thenation.com/article/wisconsins-voter-id-law-suppressed-200000-votes-trump-won-by-23000/
The study hasn’t been peer reviewed yet, but it does agree with conclusions that the GAO has made
Wjs
@hovercraft: I hate that fucker. He is a lickspittle.
prob50
Yeah, a public official saying “fuck” is much worse than people suffering and dying for the lack of adequate health care.
TenguPhule
@ArchTeryx:
Kansas is so fucking backwards that even after years of seeing the fuckups that Brownback has caused, he got reelected and they still can’t muster enough Republicans to override his veto. And the good ol boys club is so corrupt at the state level that any non-crazy challenger is going to get the same treatment from law enforcement the last one did.
SenyorDave
I’m not a big fan of these things, but in this case I’m fine with it. The GOP should not be a viable option for people. They are now caught in constant big lies, Price arguing that cutting $800 billion+ from medicaid is not a cut, Trump and his surrogates saying pre-exiting condition coverage will be maintained, etc. I would like to see the Democrats act in such a way that we become the party that will govern in a responsible way.
But in this case people will die, and people need to be reminded of that fact.
MomSense
@? ?? Goku ? ?:
The election was stolen.
? ?? Goku ? ?
I know I’m not going to refer to the GOP as the Republican Party any longer. There’s nothing republican about them these days. So “GOP” it is
ArchTeryx
@burnspbesq: I’m a white dude and I always thought Redd Foxx was awesome. (My first exposure to him was the series Sanford and Son, but I also got videotapes of his stand-up acts later on).
hovercraft
@TenguPhule:
Don’t worry, Kansas is not alone, other GOPer controlled states are trying to compete with them to be the best example of conservative principles in action.
Missouri GOP continues its ‘jobs first’ agenda by approving a bill that makes it virtually impossible to sue an employer for workplace discrimination
I wonder how long it will take the “heartland” to realize that their precious “freedom” is bankrupting them.
Ha! Just kidding, I’m glad I live in a blue state, we may occasionally be dumb enough to elect the likes of Chris Christie, but we still limit the amount of damage he can do by electing democratic legislatures.
A Ghost To Most
OT:
from WaPo; link no work
The Thin Black Duke
@ArchTeryx: And it was Foxx’s role in the film “Cotton Comes to Harlem” that brought him to Norman Lear’s attention.
tBone
@hovercraft:
Harris actually dropped two f-bombs during that interview. It was great. I wasn’t that familiar with her before, and now I see why she keeps popping up as a potential presidential candidate. She’s got charm to burn.
Gelfling 545
@Villago Delenda Est: You could easily convince Trump to hop on board the tumbrel. Just tell him it’s something French royslty used to do!
Mnemosyne
@A Ghost To Most:
Yeah, we’re discussing it in one of the threads below. The guy was so clearly unhinged that I can’t say I’m surprised. I feel sorry for his family.
TenguPhule
@hovercraft:
First of never. It will always be the fault of someone with a darker skin tone then them. Always.
cain
@hovercraft: This is so that white people can finally get whites only jobs. The laugh will be on them because nobody is going to want to work for such a back ass company anyways. Blue states will continue to prosper while states like Missouri will continue to turn into little hell holes until their constituents wise up and kick these fools out.
A Ghost To Most
Ah, sorry, I was off raising hell in the WaPo comment sections, and did not keep up.
Did you know that Hillary’s emails are more traitorous than Trump being in bed with Putin? And that liberal progressives are the true fascists and racists? The things I learn from wingnuts.
hovercraft
Hey where are all the people who were castigating Obama for taking all that Wall Street money? I thought that he had sold out because he refused to pledge never to go anywhere near anyone who had cooties that the purity ponies didn’t like, so is his being the keynote speaker at the conference part of his selling out? Or is he just like the Clintons’, helping people but negating the good they do by also earning millions? I wasn’t aware that to be a good democratic ex-official, you had to take a vow of poverty.
Obama: Private sector is key to tackling climate change
I have no idea if this was a paid speech, if it was good for him if not, good for him. I just want him out there sharing his thoughts and opinions with the world, he’s still a great leader.
Hopefully no one shows Twitler that quote, Obama is taking up enough real estate in that tiny little brain of his as it is.
jacy
Raul Labrador (Idiot-Idaho), he of the “No one dies because of lack of health care,” has filed to run for governor of Idaho
Labrador retrievers should file a class action suit for defamation of character.
Fair Economist
@ArchTeryx:
At the national level, that kind of moderate “R”s are almost extinct. Not only is the AHCA a horror bill to cause thousands of deaths and millions of bankruptcies, it was passed without a CBO score or even reading the bill – yet virtually no Republicans out of swing districts opposed it. They’re not all that stupid – a lot of them knew what was going on but voted yea anyway. You can’t even find a Republican Congressman with a shred of decency anymore.
Mnemosyne
@ArchTeryx:
@The Thin Black Duke:
Great, now the theme to “Sanford and Son” is going through my head. I really hate you guys sometimes. ?
I saw A Hard Day’s Night for the first time recently and one of the running jokes is how “clean” Paul’s grandfather is. That’s because the actor was best known at the time for playing the junkman on “Steptoe and Son,” which Norman Lear bought the rights to and made into a Redd Foxx vehicle.
p.a.
“Is you or is you not my constit’ents?”
p.a.
ooh. except for lacking a logo the page looked fairly normal before my comment. after, very different fonts and other visuals.
satby
Slightly off topic, but just want to share this with you all. This is deaf rapper Sean Forbes from Detroit and his band. The bearded guitar player on the left is family friend Mark Levin who is also deaf (all the band members are); and a musician, music video producer, a DJ. These guys are inspiring, they spend a great deal of time touring schools to encourage all kids to go after their dreams in spite of what obstacles they face.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@david:
“stretched on your grave’ – Cindy Sheehan?”
The Dead Can Dance song.
satby
@p.a.: me too. Alain, put it back ??
Florida Frog
just got back from a die-in in John Rutherford’s FL district. He has refused to meet with constituents but our Indivisible group got a tip that he was having a luncheon with the Catholic lawyers group in Jacksonville so about 100 of us showed up outside the restaurant with tombstones. He looked down on us from the second floor and gave us the most smug, self-satisfied grin I have ever seen. He is certain that he is completely invulnerable. I hope we can prove him wrong.
Shalimar
@jacy: If that happened, I would be happy to work pro bono filing a motion for the Canadian region of Labrador to join the defamation lawsuit.
ET
@LurkerNoLonger: ouch.
“I’m not doing you a favor by answering your questions if I represent you,” the Democrat said. “It’s my job.”
Like that needs to be said? I guess it does nowadays for GOP reps.
Mnemosyne
@Florida Frog:
You guys have probably already thought of this, but you need to get a couple of Dem candidates to start working now — not next year, right now — to make themselves known and familiar in the district.
liberal
@Fair Economist: I see “moderate” R’s (ie members of Tuesday group) who have 0% scores from Americans for Democratic Action.
It’s not DW-NOMINATE, but I suspect a lot of these so-called “moderates” aren’t just “not moderate”, they’re hard right-wing. Maybe not as crazy as the craziest, but that’s not saying much.
I’d be curious to look at DW-NOMINATE scores for Congress right now, though don’t have the time.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@hovercraft: The whole interview is here (starts around 45:00)